King County voters will decide in April on a $60 car-tab fee and a tenth-of-a-cent sales-tax increase for roads and buses.

On Feb. 24, the Metropolitan King County Council also passed a 25-cent fare increase for bus riders starting in 2015. Peak one-zone fares are $2.50 now, and peak-two-zone fares are $3.

The increases make up a funding package county officials pulled together to save King County Metro Transit from threatened service cuts of as much as 17 percent. County leaders hoped the state Legislature would act to save the bus system, but it didn’t.

The ballot measure would raise $130 million per year, $50 million of which would go to cities around the county to fix their streets. The rest would go toward restoring Metro service and fixing county-maintained roads.

Thanks for upholding the ban

Thank you, Issaquah, for upholding the bag ban. It was the right time and the right thing to do.

It may be an extremely small step in the overall scheme of being responsible for our surroundings, but hopefully other smaller communities from around the area and the country will follow our lead, step up and move forward as we have.

Klahanie-area residents have spoken — and 32 of them may make all the difference.

The final results of the Feb. 11 election are in. With 49 percent of registered voters casting a ballot, only 49.47 percent, or 1,504, voted for an Issaquah annexation. While 50.53 percent, or 1,536, voted against the measure.

Even with the narrow number of votes separating the sides, it is outside the 0.25 percent margin that would trigger an automatic recount. Though one side or the other could pay for one, no one has suggested they are willing to do so.

Issaquah’s ban on plastic bags still stands, while a Klahanie-area annexation continues to fall short.

As of Feb. 21, 1,504, or 49.51 percent, of the residents in the Klahanie area voted in favor of the annexation and to take on the encumbered debt of Issaquah, while 1,534, or 50.49 percent, voted against it.

Although the measure needs 60 percent to pass with the new residents sharing the city’s indebtedness, the City Council can still choose to annex the area if the vote receives a simple majority. Under that scenario, the Klahanie area would not assume its share of the city’s current indebtedness.

Three Issaquah School District levy proposals appear to be well on their way to passing, according to early elections results.

King County Elections numbers from Feb. 14 showed Issaquah’s three measures were way above the 50-percent mark needed for approval.

The district’s four-year, $198 million maintenance and operations levy was passing with 69 percent approval. The measure, labeled as renewal of the current M&O levy, pays for teacher salaries and classroom-related costs not covered by the state.

The deadline for in-person registration for new Washington voters is Feb. 3.

More than half of King County voters will receive ballots, which will be mailed Jan. 22. Sixteen school districts, including Issaquah, the city of Issaquah and the Klahanie Annexation Area have measures on ballots.

New Issaquah Mayor Fred Butler has some big shoes to fill and he has already stepped into them.

Though Butler’s official swearing-in did not happen until the City Council’s Jan. 6 meeting, he began his new job Jan. 1. After winning the Nov. 5 election with 75 percent of the vote, he has had two months to prepare for the job.

“It has been a great transition,” Butler said. “The transition actually started during the election.”

He said in the midst of the mayoral campaign, now former-mayor Ava Frisinger and City Administrator Bob Harrison sat down with Butler and his opponent Joe Forkner to discuss emerging issues facing Issaquah and what a transition would require.